The summer market confirmed the trend of recent campaigns: the central defender is one of the most coveted pieces in football, especially by the great European squads.
A review of the list of the 30 most expensive transfers of the summer reveals the presence of nine central defenders (Fofana, De Ligt, Lisandro Martínez, Koundé, Romero, Bremer, Koulibaly, Botman and Aguerd).
Six of them are in the Premier, the remaining three are distributed in the Bundesliga, the Spanish League and the Italian Serie A.
If we go back to last summer, then there were four centre-backs (White, Upamecano, Varane and Konaté) among the nine most expensive signings.
The fourth most expensive centre-back in history, Wesley Fofana, has never played for his country's national team, France, and only five times with the under-21s.
Last season he was out for seven months due to injury.
He is not even 22 years old.
He played for Leicester, which three years ago had already sold Maguire for a record price of 87 million euros, the current cap at the position.
Fofana has just signed for Chelsea, who have spent 186 million euros on defenders this summer.
They reinforced the left-back with Cucurella for just over 65, the veteran center-back Koulibaly was valued at 38 and now they are investing 82.5 million in their new acquisition.
Manchester City incorporated almost on the horn of the closing of this transfer window a central defender, the Swiss Manuel Akanji, a Borussia Dortmund footballer who was released next June and for which the English champion pays 17.5 million euros.
It almost seems like a bargain.
The tactical drift of football has revalued the role of the central defender, who has gone from being a complement to being essential.
He is no longer a blotter who recovers the ball but a well-managed footballer who is asked to assume the responsibility of taking advantage of numerical superiorities, going out with the ball, driving and attracting to find spaces.
The change in the rule of the goal kick, which allows receiving with time in the area, has enhanced this function.
Also,
The center-backs must be agile to cover on the flanks and at the same time be able to recover the spaces left behind, increasingly further away from the goal line.
The mold that City leads has meant an investment of more than 253 million euros in the five central defenders that they now have on staff.
For Stones they paid 55 million the summer in which Guardiola arrived at the club, then Laporte arrived for 65, Ruben Dias for 71 and Aké for 45.
Gabi Milito worked as a center back between 1997 and 2012, a time in which his job changed.
The former Argentine soccer player spent three seasons under Guardiola at Barcelona.
The first he was injured, in the next two he limped, but he absorbed a football that he did not know.
In the book
Che Pep
, by the journalist and tactical analyst Vicente Muglia, describes it: “Until then, all the coaches told me: Gabi, control and pass.
Pep opened my head.
In training I used to control and pass as I had been used to for so many years and one day he grabbed me and told me: No, Gabi, you have to advance with the ball to the middle of the court”.
Years ago, Johan Cruyff had left a sentence: "The most important pieces for a team to play football well are the center backs".
Today they are listed at forward price.
Or more.
A little over a week ago, when Villarreal beat Atlético in the Metropolitano, among the mountain of data and statistics that are now extracted in the matches, the one that indicated that the team coached by Unai Emery had completed 78% of their possession shone ball in own field.
The plan consisted of attracting the rival to advance with the ball and overcome lines through the pass.
But the risk exists and sometimes it is expensive.
PSV Eindhoven will not play in the Champions League this season after an error in the exit of the ball gave Rangers the qualification goal.
A couple of weeks ago, Arsenal conceded a goal after central defender Gabriel Magalhaes tied a knot.
But in the following action he did not take the ball off himself: "You have to believe and have the courage to continue playing," warned coach Mikel Arteta.
The 10 most expensive transfers of central defenders in history according to Transfermarkt:
1st Harry Maguire (from Leicester to Manchester United in 2019): 87 million euros.
2nd Matthijs de Ligt (from Ajax to Juventus in 2019): 85.5 million euros.
3rd Virgil van Dijk (from Southampton to Liverpool in 2018): 84.5 million euros.
4th Wesley Fofana (from Leicester to Chelsea in 2022): 82.5 million euros.
5th Lucas Hernández (from Atlético to Bayern in 2019): 80 million euros.
6th Ruben Dias (from Benfica to Manchester City in 2020): 71.6 million euros.
7th Matthijs de Ligt (from Juventus to Bayern in 2022): 67 million euros.
8th Aymeric Laporte (from Athletic to Manchester City in 2017): 65 million euros.
9th Ben White (from Brighton to Arsenal in 2021): €58.5m.
10th Lisandro Martínez (from Ajax to Manchester United in 2022): 57.3 million euros.
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